Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of server information handling system management, and more particularly to a server information handling system NFC management sideband feedback.
Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Server information handling systems are typically centrally located in a data center that has specialized infrastructure to provide networking, power and cooling resources. Often, plural server information handling systems are stacked in racks that have plural slots to provide infrastructure interfaces. For example, a typical server rack includes multiple power supplies and a communication switch that each supports server information handling systems installed in slots of the rack. Racks are disposed in a room having a controlled environment, such as with cooling air vented near each rack. The server information handling systems typically include a baseboard management controller (BMC) that allows remote support operations, such as network-based power-up, power-down, component monitoring, firmware updates and other management operations. Generally, BMC's communicate with administrative tools through an out-of-band management network that is separate from the networks that the server information handling systems functionally serve. For instance, a server information handling system serves client requests responsive to enterprise functions performed over the Internet through a primary network interface and is managed by administrative network tools through a secondary management network.
In modern cloud networking configurations, physical server information handling systems provide physical processing resources that support virtual processing devices, such as virtual machines. As a result, in a given data center, a physical mapping of enterprise functions to the physical machine performing the enterprise functions is often not immediately available and frequently changing. In effect, the physical maintenance of server information handling systems is separate from the maintenance of virtual machines that run over the physical systems. As a physical server information handling system runs into difficulty executing an enterprise function, such as due to processing load or failure of components, the enterprise function virtual machine migrates to different physical resources. Although cloud networking helps to achieve efficient use of processing resources, it does tend to increase the difficulty of identifying and addressing physical processing resource failures and maintenance since there is little available direct relationship between difficulties in performing processing functions and difficulties with underlying physical processing resources.
One advantage of cloud computing and other virtualized networking techniques is that server information handling systems become black boxes that can fit into server racks as needed to replace broken server systems or to expand processing capabilities available for virtual systems. Information technology administrators often work on data center floors to address physical resource maintenance and replacement independent of functional resources running over the information handling systems. Once a server information handling system is repaired or replaced at a rack slot, the information technology administrator powers the server up and configures the server to interact with the management and functional network resources. After the server information handling system is under the control of administrative tools through the management network, remote management controls are typically effective to return the server information handling system into the pool of functional resources.
One difficulty with maintenance and replacement of server information handling systems is that information technology administrators must correctly identify server information handling systems in the data center that have faults and need replacement or maintenance. Typically, information technology administrators in a data center will move a “crash” cart between server racks to investigate issues indicated locally by LED lights or small LED panels, or indicated remotely by communications from BMCs to administration tools. Once issues are spotted, the information technology administrator will typically interface to the BMC locally with a USB or other cable interface in order to retrieve detailed information regarding the fault and determine an appropriate corrective action. Generally, the information technology administrator fills out a trouble ticket based upon the indicated fault and submits the trouble ticket to an administrative tool to schedule maintenance, such as replacement of failed components or of the server information handling system. One difficulty with tracking failures by trouble tickets is that complicated identification information and error codes can sometimes lead to errors at the input of trouble ticket information. Another difficulty that sometimes arises is that a dead server information handling system is unavailable to provide information at the data center floor related to the failure. For example, a complete failure of a server information handling system and its BMC is typically analyzed by removal of the server information handling system for post mortem outside of the data center room.
Once a trouble ticket is submitted, service is authorized and performed by the technician who found the difficulty or by another technician by issuing a service ticket. The technician performs the maintenance and then submits the service ticket as complete so the server information handling system may be brought back on line. Often, some delay is involved in the reboot of the server information handling system after the service ticket is reported as complete. The technician typically has to decide whether to wait until the information handling system powers up or leave and come back later to check on the system. A repair or maintenance operation could have several outcomes: the issue is fixed and the server information handling system comes back online normally; the repair or maintenance did not fix the issue and the server information handling system fails to come back online; the repair or maintenance operation resulted in new issues that impact or impair the information handling system. If the technician waits to see the outcome of the maintenance operation on the server information handling system, then the technician tends to have dead time that could be used to address other data center issues. In other instances, a technician performs standard maintenance at server information handling systems independent of a service ticket, such as firmware or other updates. In some instances, maintenance updates take some time to execute and involve a reboot of the server information handling system. If a repair or maintenance fails to correct operation of the server information handling system and the technician has left the area, then the technician typically has to return to perform additional repairs. The notifications between data center administrators and the scheduling of work often lead to delays in coordinating repair services, which results in unnecessary system down time. In some instances, if a server information handling system fails to communicate correctly with data administrators, an extended delay may result if the technician has left the area since the administrator will have to rely upon the lack of communication as notice of the failure.